ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHOKHA OR HIS WORKSHOP, DEVGARH, RAJASTHAN, INDIA, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Chokha (active 1799-1824) trained in the atelier at Udaipur before becoming court painter in Devgarh. Son of the artist Bagta, Chokha took over from his father in 1811 as primary painter for Rawat Gokul Das. In Devgarh the young artist clearly found greater artistic expression, exploring a far wider range of subjects, however the greatest development was technical. Clearly drawing inspiration from European images, Chokha embraced stippled modelling and cross-hatching for figures and landscapes (Milo Cleveland Beach and Rawat Nahar Singh II, Bagta and Chokha, Master Artists at Devgarh, Zurich, 2005, p.81). These technical traits are evident in the present portrait whilst, of course, the appearance of the subject and their dress are distinctly European. A fascination for European artistic techniques, but also subjects, is evidenced by a number of works by Chokha including Mother and Child in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2004-149-60), which is attributed to Chokha circa 1820, and a portrait of a European Boy from a Private Collection (Beach and Singh, op. cit. p.83). A comparable portrait of Rawat Gyan Singh of Gyangarh attributed to Chokha was sold Bonhams, New York, 19 March 2012, lot 1209 whilst another painting attributed to Chokha was sold in these Rooms, 31 March 2022, lot 103.).